Poland Pilgrimage (continued)

9/18 - buses left the hotel at 8:00. A tour guide gave us some quick facts about Krakow as the bus drove us to the Royal Wawel Castle and Cathedral. We were dropped off there and split up into three large groups. Our tour guide was fantastic and the Wawel Cathedral was incredible! It is Poland's most important national sanctuary and arguably the most interesting place in the whole country. It is the burial ground of most Polish royalty as well as the greatest national heroes, two poets, four saints and many Krakow bishops. Although we weren't able to see it, underneath the church is the underground chapel of St. Leonard which was turned into the nation's paramount mausoleum with tombs of the royals and national heroes. We were given a tour of the church which really sparked my admiration and fascination with the churches of Europe - this was really the first time we had been explained the historical facts and intense symbolism (especially the many tombs).
Here is a picture of the girls with their coffee and chatting with our guide :)

After the castle and cathedral, our tour guide walked us to the city center - here's a picture of Sarah and I in the square. That church in the background was where we watched the traditional hourly trumpet song out the window :)

We were then left on our own free time for the next couple hours. We ate at a little restaurant called Yummies which took up most of our time, and so we were in a bit of a hurry to visit some places we wanted to go (mainly shops), and we were back to the bus by 2:00 to go to Divine Mercy Shrine and Chapel. Sr. Gaudia talked to us and gave us some background on the Divine Mercy Shrine and the story of St. Faustina. Mass followed in the Basilica which is there in the background :)

We left for our hotel in Krakow about 6:30, had dinner and went to bed!

9/19 - mass was at the Royal Wawel Cathedral. It was all in Polish but Fr. Ron gave a few words in English during the homily :)

From 10am-noon, Sarah, Andrea and I got coffee and walked around Krakow some more. About 15 minutes till noon they left to go on a little trip with the school to another town. I didn't really want to go and I loved Krakow and really wanted more time, so I ventured off on my own before our bus was going to be leaving for the town of Wadovice.

I can't even describe the feeling of walking all on my own in Poland, it was so exciting! I went everywhere during that time, ate lunch in the park, and shopped. It was fun to see familiar faces and especially running into friends on the way back to the bus :)

2pm we left for Wadowice (Pope John Paul II's hometown).

We had this really rich cream cake, known as "pope cake" because John Paul II liked to eat it while studying in the seminary. I might have gained more pounds then needed while eating it but boy it was yummy ;) We also ordered perogies (famous Polish food).

We met back at the bus about 6pm and everyone was changing into their comfy clothes for the long bus ride back to the Kartause. We watched the Count of Monte Cristo on the bus, had broken sleep once again all throughout the bus ride and crashed upon arriving back in Gaming at 3am! It was a trip I will never forget, and some day I would like to go back to Poland :)